Refrigerant Leak in My LG French Door Refrigerator, model LFC22740SB

After 3-1/2 years of operation, two of which were summertime-only, our LG French Door Refrigerator (model LFC22740SB) stopped cooling.

A local LG-authorized repair service determined that the refrigerant (freon) had leaked out and resulted in compressor failure. They deemed the unit unrepairable. That was a month prior this writing.

As of today, I am still without a refrigerator because LG is insisting that it MAY not be unrepairable, because the leak just MIGHT be in a place where it can be fixed.

The repair company has never encountered such a response, and LG insists that they have to make at least one more service call to perform an expensive leak test to determine the location of the leak, and at my expense.

There is no assurance that this test would be the last. I have made innumerable calls to everyone involved and have gotten exactly nowhere.

When and if LG finally acknowledges the obvious then I can look forward to their "process" by which they discuss "options" with me about "adjusting" the warranty claim. I got one supervisor in customer-care to admit that the process can be a month in duration.

I am convinced that LG warranty is operated in such a way as to grind down claimants until they give up in exasperation. So instead of doing what's right by simply replacing the refrigerator and making me glow all over about how good LG is, they wind up to make me mad as hell--all just to save a few hundred corporate bucks.

Right now, the only thing that keeps me going on this is my desire for them to feel my pain, although I am wondering if I'm going to be throwing good money after bad.

Please, Please save your money and do not buy this fridge. Our Kenmore Elite french door, bottom freezer fridge is 4 years old and has the same freon leak problem. At least $1500 to fix and who is to say it wont happen again? Two years ago we had a different problem with the same fridge that was fixed by Sears because the fridge is covered under a class action lawsuit (Clark vs LG). The Freon leak (which leads to compressor death) is not covered by this class action lawsuit. I think we need another lawsuit against LG. Sears should be ashamed for selling this piece of junk. According to Sears Service Department, you have to pay for a repair person visit before you can register a complaint about this fridge with them. It takes 10 days for a repair person to come. They will not accept a report from a non-Sears repair person. With such poor products and approach to customer service I will never buy from Sears again

Oct 22, 2016

LG LFX25978ST Sealed SystemNEWby: Anonymous

Purchased on 7/5/2014 and RIP on 10/20/2016. I had a local appliance tech to check and was diagnosed with sealed system problem. $1800 worth piece of junk!! Even with 7 year warranty for the sealed system, I decided not to waste another penny on this POS LG especially reading all the complaints dealing with LG warranty. Hopefully my new Whirlpool fridge will last longer than the crappy LG!! NEVER EVER LG!!!! Life is NO Good!!

Oct 13, 2016

Freon LeakNEWby: Anonymous

My LG LFC25776ST was just diagnosed with a Freon leak. The LG tech stated that this a common issue since the are made in South Korea (where the metal isn't as durable as here). Coming back next week try to find the leak maybe fixable but if the leak is inside the walls of the fridge not repairable. Only had for 5 years. I don't remember as a kid my parents putting Freon in the fridge to keep it running.

Sep 26, 2016

LG LFC25776ST leaking refrigerant after 3 yrsNEWby: In Seattle

Our 3 year old LG french door fridge was just diagnosed with a refrigerant leak. I had called for an LG authorized repair shop to come check it out but they were booked out over 1 month and wouldn't even take anymore appointments. That's pretty telling of their company's poor performing products. The repair man advised us that it would make more sense to buy a new fridge rather than spend the money on repairing this LG one. Our 20 year old GE fridge in the garage is still running great. Never buying LG again!!!

Sep 08, 2016

Freon leak 3 years inNEWby: LG SUCKS

We have the LFX25973ST model with french doors. WE can try to repair for about 200 bucks but the repair man said it will just leak out again in a month then we'll still have to buy a new fridge! What the hell my Mom had a fridge that lasted 20 years this is crap!

Aug 24, 2016

LG LFX28978STNEWby: Brg

After 5 years almost to the date of purchase, the refrigerator is not cooling. We called LG and they said that there wasn't any LG technicians in the area so they recommended us to another appliance repair company. They came out and said that we have an internal freon leak and that he would not recommend repairing. He suggested that we call LG again. We called and now there is an LG technician in our area coming tomorrow. It will be $325 to repair wth only 90 day warranty on the work. This should not be happening after only 5 years. My GE frig in the garage is 15 years with zero issues. I will NEVER buy LG again.

Aug 24, 2016

LG LFX28978STNEWby: Brg

After 5 years almost to the date of purchase, the refrigerator is not cooling. We called LG and they said that there wasn't any LG technicians in the area so they recommended us to another appliance repair company. They came out and said that we have an internal freon leak and that he would not recommend repairing. He suggested that we call LG again. We called and now there is an LG technician in our area coming tomorrow. It will be $325 to repair wth only 90 day warranty on the work. This should not be happening after only 5 years. My GE frig in the garage is 15 years with zero issues. I will NEVER buy LG again.

Aug 12, 2016

LG Refrigerator LFX28977ST101 NEWby: Nancy Black

I bought this LG refrigerator in Dec thinking I would have ice for the holidays. After three attempts and new ice maker installed it was only going to make enough to fill three glasses with ice. So I had to go out a buy an ice maker.

Now after 7 years repairmen tells me yesterday that it is leak in freon sealed system inside liner and was not repairable. He said if he put freon in it it would leak out again and the same problem would arise. My ice is still making and the freezer part is still cold for now. Had to clean out the inside losing all my food because too warm inside. I have a refrigerator in my garage that is over 30 years old and still keeping things cold. I guess the days of keeping expensive refrigerators ($3000.00) is gone forever. Amazing that companies aren't held accountable for inferior products. I join the rest of the complaints will not buy another LG refrigerator. It looks good with the French Doors and wide space with not worth the money.

Aug 05, 2016

kenmore elite french door made by LG has same issueNEWby: Anonymous

Please, Please save your money and do not buy this fridge. Our Kenmore Elite french door, bottom freezer fridge is 4 years old and has the same freon leak problem. At least $1500 to fix and who is to say it wont happen again? Two years ago we had a different problem with the same fridge that was fixed by Sears because the fridge is covered under a class action lawsuit (Clark vs LG). The Freon leak (which leads to compressor death) is not covered by this class action lawsuit. I think we need another lawsuit against LG. Sears should be ashamed for selling this piece of junk. According to Sears Service Department, you have to pay for a repair person visit before you can register a complaint about this fridge with them. It takes 10 days for a repair person to come. They will not accept a report from a non-Sears repair person. With such poor products and approach to customer service I will never buy from Sears again.

Jul 30, 2016

LG is badNEWby: Anonymous

Same problem at 4 yrs. so expensive to fix we went out and bought a new GE. I will never recommend LG. We have fixed this 4 times. All different problems. Terrible appliance. Manufacturing in such a way it is very expensive to get into the cavity of the fridge. Made in China of course.

Jul 26, 2016

Mine TooNEWby: Anonymous

That's funny, my LG refrigerator, nice double door stainless steel refrigerator, working for 4 years now, same problem. 8 months ago it was a leak in the sealed system that was spot welded, then a circuit board went out which had to be replaced. Now I have another sealed system leak! LG refrigerators are junk! Fortunately I have a home warranty and they are going to have to replace the refrigerator. What a shame.

Jul 20, 2016

4 year old LG fridge with freon leakNEWby: Anonymous

Guess I'm not alone. My 4 year olf LG fridge just stopped cooling one day and LG customer service is pretty much useless. A repair man came out, recharged the freon and says we have to wait. Wait for what? Obviously it's going to leak out again! Should I just not buy groceries because I know they are going to go bad when the fridge heats up again? The repair man says I should probably have a back up fridge. I paid over $2k for this fridge! I shouldn't need a back up! I will never buy another LG as long as I live and so help me, no one I know will buy one either.

May 30, 2016

Me too, sealed system leak...NEWby: RobertOscar

Happy fourth Birthday refrigerator, what do you want to do now? Did you say QUIT? I thought so. Kenmore Elite french door fridge, made by LG just turned four and died. Sears is determined to fix it, though their own technicians say they do not see where the leak is and just keep replacing parts. Two month without a fridge, the first repair lasting less than two weeks, the second less than two days and the third less than two hours all under warranty. I have had a new compressor, 2 driers, an evaporator and condenser coil plus three charges of coolant, and they still have not thrown in the towel. The techs seem to think the leak is in the case itself, meaning the unit is done! So why are we still wasting money on this? This is apparently a typical issue with a certain group of these models, why waste the money? All the labor and materials at this point must exceed the cost of a new machine and over two months without refrigeration, not acceptable, but nobody cares.

Apr 23, 2016

UPDATE on Original PostNEWby: Anonymous

The fridge is keeping temperature very well since the line was cut.

During very humid and rainy days, the condensation on the outside of the fridge increases. Sometimes so much so that overnight, the water makes it to the floor and there's more wiping up involved. There is also a lot of condensation on the inner sides of the french doors. I keep a cloth handy to wipe every day.

One other side effect, the fridge is now loud! Before I hardly knew it was running. I used to have to stop and really listen. Not any more. It really bothers me but I suppose better to run out this (ultimately) bad investment than to have to throw it out.

Yesterday a friend of mine was discussing her remodel and I warned her off LG fridges. That's as much as I can do at this point.

23.2.2016
My fridge was 4 years 11 months old when the issue started. It's now 5 years one month old. French door MODEL LFX28978ST/00. I live in the Caribbean where our fridges work hard all day every day all year.

The repairman (not LG - out of warranty) came and said that he thought he knew what the issue was because he had seen it in many LG fridges. He topped up the freon, things started cooling and he went away. Came back a week later and once again the fridge was not up to temperature. Long story short - there was another break to try to be sure - he topped up the freon again and then soldered the line taking freon from the compressor to warm the doors of the fridge.

He did that a few days ago. I now get condensation on the outside of the fridge just next to the left french door but strangely enough not the other door. My repairman assured me that that should be the only consequence of his fix. He's done it many times (sadly).

So far everything seems up to temperature. I hope it sticks. This fridge was not cheap (though, it appears, conversely mayhaps cheaply built!) I will update this post in a few weeks. I hope this helps someone. I too am very disappointed in LG. This was my first fridge by them and the last.

Apr 23, 2016

UPDATE on Original PostNEWby: Anonymous

The fridge is keeping temperature very well since the line was cut.

During very humid and rainy days, the condensation on the outside of the fridge increases. Sometimes so much so that overnight, the water makes it to the floor and there's more wiping up involved. There is also a lot of condensation on the inner sides of the french doors. I keep a cloth handy to wipe every day.

One other side effect, the fridge is now loud! Before I hardly knew it was running. I used to have to stop and really listen. Not any more. It really bothers me but I suppose better to run out this (ultimately) bad investment than to have to throw it out.

Yesterday a friend of mine was discussing her remodel and I warned her off LG fridges. That's as much as I can do at this point.

23.2.2016
My fridge was 4 years 11 months old when the issue started. It's now 5 years one month old. French door MODEL LFX28978ST/00. I live in the Caribbean where our fridges work hard all day every day all year.

The repairman (not LG - out of warranty) came and said that he thought he knew what the issue was because he had seen it in many LG fridges. He topped up the freon, things started cooling and he went away. Came back a week later and once again the fridge was not up to temperature. Long story short - there was another break to try to be sure - he topped up the freon again and then soldered the line taking freon from the compressor to warm the doors of the fridge.

He did that a few days ago. I now get condensation on the outside of the fridge just next to the left french door but strangely enough not the other door. My repairman assured me that that should be the only consequence of his fix. He's done it many times (sadly).

So far everything seems up to temperature. I hope it sticks. This fridge was not cheap (though, it appears, conversely mayhaps cheaply built!) I will update this post in a few weeks. I hope this helps someone. I too am very disappointed in LG. This was my first fridge by them and the last.

Originally purchased because of "a great warranty" according to the Sears sales person - 7 years in sealed system and 10 on the compressor - "Great" I thought.

Called LG - they said "Yep under warranty - EXCEPT LABOR" - Well - that labor is $425 to fix a warranty repair on their "Sealed" System.
This was a $2,600 fridge.

Debating what to do now.

Feb 24, 2016

Possible Solutionby: Anonymous

23.2.2016
My fridge was 4 years 11 months old when the issue started. It's now 5 years one month old. French door MODEL LFX28978ST/00. I live in the Caribbean where our fridges work hard all day every day all year.

The repairman (not LG - out of warranty) came and said that he thought he knew what the issue was because he had seen it in many LG fridges. He topped up the freon, things started cooling and he went away. Came back a week later and once again the fridge was not up to temperature. Long story short - there was another break to try to be sure - he topped up the freon again and then soldered the line taking freon from the compressor to warm the doors of the fridge.

He did that a few days ago. I now get condensation on the outside of the fridge just next to the left french door but strangely enough not the other door. My repairman assured me that that should be the only consequence of his fix. He's done it many times (sadly).

So far everything seems up to temperature. I hope it sticks. This fridge was not cheap (though, it appears, conversely mayhaps cheaply built!) I will update this post in a few weeks. I hope this helps someone. I too am very disappointed in LG. This was my first fridge by them and the last.

Jan 05, 2016

1 yr and 2months, leaking and unrepairableby: AliM

My LG LFC227700 SW stopped keeping temp 4 days ago. Had the LG repair guy here (for their LG "flat rate" for repair and parts) and he said he couldn't repair it. He thought that LG might exchange or do a factory repair but that I have to call them once he submits paperwork. Based on comments above, not looking forward to the process of hopefully (but not likely from the above accounts) getting an exchange or repair. uuugh. This fridge just about broke the bank in the first place, and replaced a 15yr + fridge. Shouldn't it last longer than 14 months???!!!

Sep 25, 2015

This is an ongoing trendby: Anonymous

This is an ongoing trend. Unfortunately I have encountered a leak inside my refrigerator between LG and Best Buy after nine conversations they sent someone out and told me my refrigerator was unrepairable there was a leak coming out of the back of the refrigerator they offered me $300 for a $3000 refrigerator and as I laughed I thought if I could fix this thing I would let them know it after a few hours I open up the back of the refrigerator and found a broken Copperline inside the refrigerator their technicians said it was unrepairable I'm unqualified how good I fix this I don't know Word to the wise lives good laughing is good life is good for somebody else while they're laughing at us.

Aug 26, 2015

another one with a 3 year leakby: Anonymous

Wow, I just read all the other comments and my 3 year old fridge just joined everyone else's. Shame on LG for not doing a recall like the auto companies have to do. The repairman just told us that it could cost over $1000.00 if it was repairable. Pretty sad huh? I had the extended warranty but it only lasts for 3 years, just short of the life expectancy of this refrigerator! What a coincidence....

Aug 19, 2015

Freon leak in Frigidaire Galleryby: Anonymous

Same thing has happened to me but with a French Door Fridgidaire Gallery only 3 years old. Was told by Sears tech it's got a freon leak and can't be repaired. I to don't have the extended warranty so Frigidaire won't do anything. My husband won't take no for an answer and won't spend another dime to get it fixed or replace it. What happened to quality with today's appliances? How do we as consumers hold them accountable. Doesn't seem like going through consumer reports even helps.

Aug 19, 2015

Under 4 Years oldsby: Anonymous

I guess I'm not alone, 4 year old Kenmore (built by LG)leaked the freon from the refrigerator cabinet and cannot be fixed. I agree high cost appliances should last at LEAST 10 years. LG/Kenmore I say no more...

Aug 14, 2015

3 year old fridgeby: Anonymous

Same issue, Freon leaks. LG asked me to contact its service center. The service center won't take anyone else's check. Almost like a doctor's office.

Jul 27, 2015

freon leak unrepairableby: Anonymous

This happened to me also. I have a Kenmore 3 1,2 year old refrigerator that is deemed unrepairable due to a Freon leak. Glad to know it is probably LG since unbelievably I'm shopping for a new refrigerator after 3 years. I'm going to contact Consumer reports

Jun 17, 2015

3.5 years for my LG as wellby: Anonymous

I was hoping to find some fix online that the Sears repair people just didn't understand...only to find so many others with the EXACT same issue mine has. The idea in doing the research, and spending the money, on a supposedly excellent appliance, is so this stuff doesn't happen, or can actually be serviced!

May 12, 2015

No freonby: Anonymous

Repairman just left Same story!! Not fixable sealed freon location not access able He said LG has blown in insulation between compressor and freon lines. Over time vibration of compressor against insulation runs on freon lines causing a leak Now I have to wait 6-10 days to hear from extended warranty company (I don t usually buy it) and they usually send a check I bought this refrig on sale so I am already going to be in the hole But u can bet I will take the hit and Never buy a LG product again To begin with I bought it in December and delivery (do to shipping) never happened til March Do u know the saying (Fool me once shame on u Fool me twice shame on me) That Won t Be Happening!!!!!!

Jan 29, 2015

Freon Leak 3 1/2 yr $3000 LG Frigby: Heather

Wow, I was shocked to read all the reviews and complaints about the same issue I am currently going through. Purchased refrigerator from Sears Kenmore and called for repair due to not cooling properly. First I was told compressor which was replaced 6 months ago. Frig started acting up again and now I am being told Freon leak and can't be fixed because the Freon pathway is sealed so frig is un-repairable. Repair man told me that the manufacturer is actually LG. Special serial codes indicate who actually manufactured. I believe that LG has a manufacturing default if there are this many complaints. HVAC specialist said the Freon should never leak, hence sealed enclosure, in the newer frigs. I don't understand why LG is not doing anything about this problem. I am out to fight with anyone and everyone I have to in order to get to the bottom of this issue. LG is not taking care of their consumers. At least find out why these frigs are leaking, which seems to be averaging, 3 years after use. Too many coincidences.

Sep 24, 2014

Lg French door refriigiratorby: Sudha

Had the same exact experience. I have decided I am never going to buy another LG product in my life time or let my friends buy it . Worst customer service and the worst product

Jul 19, 2014

Sealed system leakby: Anonymous

I had my appliance repair friend check my LG # 25776st fridge, lost freezer within two days only 3 1/2 years old. Looks like you need to get extended plan with these things, what a scam. He said it was a sealed system leak, most likely evaporates went south. What the hell" these things should at least last 10years.

May 02, 2014

side by side refrigerator by: Anonymous

My 3 yr old side by side door refrigerator has the same leak.

Jan 02, 2014

LG French Door Refrigeratorby: Anonymous

Paid almost $3,000 for an LG French Door refrigerator 2 years ago. Refrigerator has a freon leak and LG tells me it is not repairable.Don't buy LG.

Mar 12, 2012

Freon lrakby: Sheri reiman estes

This appears to be a DESIGN FLAW in FRENCH door unitsSame thing just happened to us. With same age unit. LG needs to step up to the plate and recall these units. We need to CONTACT Consumer Reports and perhaps An investgative reporter. !